Category Archives: English Language Arts

This category contains domain-specific material–reading and writing expository prose, interpreting literature etc.–designed to meet the Common Core standards in English language arts while at the same time being flexible enough to meet the needs of diverse and idiosyncratic learners.

Term of Art: Spatial Orientation

Posted on October 25, 2022 | Leave a comment

“spatial orientation: The ability to maintain a sense of orientation in a physical space. Difficulties in spatial orientation may be part of a larger pattern of visual-spatial skills deficits that are linked with a learning disability in some cases. These problems may have a profound effect on an individual’s ability to follow physical directions or to locate information or objects within a space.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

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The Weekly Text, 28 October 2022: A Lesson Plan on Expenditures by Americans from The Order of Things

Posted on October 25, 2022 | Leave a comment

This week’s Text, based on material adapted from Barbara Ann Kipfer’s endlessly fascinating reference book The Order of Things, is a lesson plan on expenditures by Americans. The only think you’ll need for this lesson as it is currently constituted is this worksheet with a list as reading and comprehension questions.

I conceived of this series of lessons (and may write more if I need them) as a way of helping students who struggle when asked to deal with two symbolic systems (language and numbers in this case) at the same time. These are simple readings and worksheets designed as much as anything to help build confidence in students in their ability to learn.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Charles Schultz on Misanthropy

Posted on October 21, 2022 | Leave a comment

“I love mankind; it’s people I can’t stand.”

Charles Schultz

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.

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Common English Verbs Followed by Gerunds: Resent

Posted on October 21, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a on the use of the verb resent with a gerund. I resent wasting my own time developing dubious instructional materials.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Book of Answers: Arsenic and Old Lace

Posted on October 21, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Who wrote Arsenic and Old Lace? The 1941 play was written by Joseph Kesselring. The 1946 movie adaptation was directed by Frank Capra.”

Excerpted from: Corey, Melinda, and George Ochoa. Literature: The New York Public Library Book of Answers. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.

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Malinger (vi)

Posted on October 21, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb malinger. It is used only intransitively, which makes sense; it means “to pretend or exaggerate incapacity or illness (as to avoid duty or work).” I thought it carried a connotation–owing to the presence of the Latin root mal (i.e. bad, evil, ill, and wrong)–of hanging around with bad intent. Evidently not.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Censorship

Posted on October 21, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Censorship (noun): Suppression of literature considered objectionable, especially for moral, political or religious reasons. Adjective: censorious; adverb: censoriously; noun: censor; verb: censor.

‘I glanced at an ancient baroque door and asked him about censorship on television. He giggled happily. “Oh it is wonderful! It is the wildest, silliest little game! The censors take out what they think the people think the censors think they should be taking out.’ Chandler Brossard, The Spanish Scene.”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.

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The Weekly Text, 21 October 2022: A Lesson Plan on the Greek Word Root Pale/o

Posted on October 21, 2022 | Leave a comment

This week’s Text is a complete lesson on the Greek word root pale/o. It means, simply, ancient. You’ll find this root at the base of paleolithic, a key word in in any global history course, but also in paleontology as well as more technical academic words like paleozoology, paleobotany, and paleography.

I open this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the noun antique, which is also plugged in as an adjective. Where the context of the sentences in this document are concerned, antique means “a relic or object of ancient times” as a noun and “being in the style or fashion of former times” as an adjective. Finally, here is the the scaffolded worksheet that is the primary work of this lesson.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Aristides Agramonte y Simoni

Posted on October 14, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Aristides Agramonte y Simoni: (1868-1931) U.S. (Cuban-born) physician, pathologist, and bacteriologist, Reared in New York City, he received his MD from Columbia University. He was a member of the U.S. Army’s Reed Yellow Fever Board, which discovered in 1901 the role of mosquitoes in transmitting yellow fever. As a professor at the University of Havana, be became an influential leader of scientific medicine in Cuba.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Cultural Literacy: Lisbon

Posted on October 14, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Lisbon. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two longish compound sentences and four comprehension questions. The document is thorough, if a bit crammed together. As below, and repeated at this point ad infinitum (or perhaps ad nauseam) on this blog, this is a Microsoft Word that you can edit and revise to suit your students’ needs.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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